Here’s a quick look at the news from last week (April 9-13) in Washington.

ADMINISTRATION

Last week the U.S. Department of Education held the third and final Negotiated Rulemaking meeting to discuss proposed rules related to teacher preparation programs and the TEACH Grant program. The Department and non-Federal negotiators were unable to reach consensus on the Department’s proposed rules, and the Department will move forward to propose their own regulations.

The U.S. Department of Education announced on Thursday that they plan to change how data on college completion rates and other measures is collected, as recommended to them by the Committee on Measures of Student Success. Graduation rate reporting for postsecondary education will be expanded to take into account part-time students, transfer students, and students who have previously attended postsecondary education. Processes and timelines for implementation will be posted in the next few weeks.

The Department announced on Monday that $133 million will be available for Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Fund grants – Colorado, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon and Wisconsin will be eligible to compete. Congress provided $550 million overall for Race to the Top in FY12, leaving approximately $417 million left for the district-level Race to the Top competition.

HOUSE

Rep. Kline will hold a legislative hearing on H.R. 4297, the Workforce Investment Improvement Act, this week Tuesday, April 17. Witnesses have not been announced yet.

SENATE

The Senate HELP Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday, April 18 on “Strategies for Accelerated Learning.” Witnesses include Tom Rudin from The College Board, Carolyn Bacon Dickson from The Texas AP Incentive Program, Peter Winograd from the University of New Mexico, Marybeth Shubert from the New Mexico Advanced Placement Initiative, and Joel Vargas from Jobs for the Future.

The House and Senate were in recess last week, and will return to session this week.